By Bishop Todd Hunter
Nearly every Christian would agree that “God is love” or that “God is a God of love.” Put in Trinitarian terms, thoughtful Christians would agree that God exists as a triune community of love.
But what about peace? Do we suppose that peace is fundamental to the Godhead in the same way as love?
Peace was core to Jesus’ worldview and thus for his vision for the life and ministry of the Church. Peace is a fruit of the Spirit—which is meant to animate the life of the Church in the world. Jesus’ Spirit-filled, Spirit-empowered, Spirit-led Church has available to it a storehouse of peace-based tools with which we can powerfully and effectively have both a voice and set of practices in our present time.
Here are 3 keys to having a more peaceful life in 2020:
- We must not fear. Fear is a very bad master. It keeps our hearts, minds and souls in a prison-like state of turmoil. And since we act and speak from our inner reality, this means we cannot consistently be an of agent of peace. Think of it this way: You cannot will yourself into peaceful interactions. Why? Because your mind and emotions constantly badger your will to move it in their direction. Peace is the byproduct of holistic inner transformation in the way of Jesus. Seek this transformation, and peace will be the natural overflow.
- We must have well-ordered desires and thus have turned over our whole life to God, abandoning outcomes to him. Disordered desires do not produce peace. For example, our harmful civil discourse does not arise from out of the blue. It comes mostly from fear or disordered desires and is found in every human place of endeavor.
Most people rationalize this toxic discourse by placing harsh blame and attaching severe denigration to the person or community with whom they are interacting. It rarely occurs to people that such ruthlessness does not find its source or rationale out there, in my dumb, evil friend, family member or colleague at work, but in here—in my mind, heart, thought-life, emotions, the current structure of my desires and my fear-based, anxious need to control outcomes, to win at all costs.
Our current set of disordered desires is what must change for us to be consistent agents of peace. Otherwise, people are just objects for our use, not persons to love and to will their good.
- We must flee self-centeredness. Anxiousness routinely, but not always, comes from self-centeredness, from the thoughts and feelings of “What I need and want in a given situation is most important, and that must be pursued with all the means needed for my preferable outcome.” This makes us peace-bankrupt people.
Rather, in the manner of Jesus, our center must be in the “other”—God and neighbor. When the other is the focus, the anxiety rooted in selfishness vanishes. We then have a peaceful bearing. People trust us more. Ministry becomes much easier.
The Rt. Rev. Dr. Todd Hunter is the founding bishop of The Diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others and founder and leader of The Telos Collective. He is past President of Alpha USA, former National Director for the Association of Vineyard Churches, retired founding pastor of Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Costa Mesa, CA, and author of Christianity Beyond Belief: Following Jesus for the Sake of Others, Giving Church Another Chance, The Outsider Interviews, The Accidental Anglican, Our Favorite Sins, and Our Character at Work.